A MAN who was being questioned over handling a stolen car worth £17,000 turned up at the police station in another stolen car.

Mark Atkinson had borrowed the car from the same man who had asked him to look after a Toyota Rav4 car worth £17,000.

He said he had an idea that the Rav4 might have been stolen but thought the Peugeot he had borrowed to visit the police was legitimate.

Atkinson, aged 29, of Tonge Moor Road, Tonge Moor, appeared at Bolton Crown Court for sentencing.

He admitted two charges of handling a stolen Rav4 and a stolen Peugeot on different dates last year.

Judge Charles Bloom QC said he took into account Atkinson's previous good character and the fact that he had not gained financially from handling the vehicles.

He sentenced him to a 60-hour Community Punishment Order and a two-year Community Rehabilitation Order with a condition he attends the Think First Programme.

The court heard that the Toyota had been stolen in a sophisticated burglary and that Atkinson had agreed to act as a minder.

Later, when he went to the police, he drove a Peugeot lent to him by the same man. He said he thought this car was legitimate because it was not as expensive.

The court heard that Atkinson was a man without any previous convictions and was in work and had become involved with younger criminals.